"The Weary Blues" by Langston Hughes
Nearly ninety years after its first publication, this celebratory edition of "The Weary Blues" reminds us of the stunning achievement of Langston Hughes, who was just twenty-four at its first appearance.
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Book Description

We Are Water is a disquieting and ultimately uplifting novel about a marriage, a family, and human resilience in the face of tragedy, from Wally Lamb, the New York Times bestselling author of The Hour I First Believed and I Know This Much Is True.

After 27 years of marriage and three children, Anna Oh—wife, mother, outsider artist—has fallen in love with Viveca, the wealthy Manhattan art dealer who orchestrated her success. They plan to wed in the Oh family’s hometown of Three Rivers in Connecticut. But the wedding provokes some very mixed reactions and opens a Pandora’s Box of toxic secrets—dark and painful truths that have festered below the surface of the Ohs’ lives.

We Are Water is a layered portrait of marriage, family, and the inexorable need for understanding and connection, told in the alternating voices of the Ohs—nonconformist, Anna; her ex-husband, Orion, a psychologist; Ariane, the do-gooder daughter, and her twin, Andrew, the rebellious only son; and free-spirited Marissa, the youngest. It is also a portrait of modern America, exploring issues of class, changing social mores, the legacy of racial violence, and the nature of creativity and art.

With humor and compassion, Wally Lamb brilliantly captures the essence of human experience and the ways in which we search for love and meaning in our lives.

We Are Water is a disquieting and ultimately uplifting novel about a marriage, a family, and human resilience in the face of tragedy, from Wally Lamb, the New York Times bestselling author of The Hour I First Believed and I Know This Much Is True.

After 27 years of marriage and three children, Anna Oh—wife, mother, outsider artist—has fallen in love with Viveca, the wealthy Manhattan art dealer who orchestrated her success. They plan to wed in the Oh family’s hometown of Three Rivers in Connecticut. But the wedding provokes some very mixed reactions and opens a Pandora’s Box of toxic secrets—dark and painful truths that have festered below the surface of the Ohs’ lives.

We Are Water is a layered portrait of marriage, family, and the inexorable need for understanding and connection, told in the alternating voices of the Ohs—nonconformist, Anna; her ex-husband, Orion, a psychologist; Ariane, the do-gooder daughter, and her twin, Andrew, the rebellious only son; and free-spirited Marissa, the youngest. It is also a portrait of modern America, exploring issues of class, changing social mores, the legacy of racial violence, and the nature of creativity and art.

With humor and compassion, Wally Lamb brilliantly captures the essence of human experience and the ways in which we search for love and meaning in our lives.

Editorial Reviews

Lamb’s much-anticipated new novel explores the secrets of a Connecticut family on the occasion of mother Annie’s remarriage to another woman. An artist who has found great success recycling junk into angry visual art, Annie is ambivalent about marrying Viveca, the art dealer responsible for her success. Meanwhile, Annie’s ex-husband, Orion, struggles to accept Annie’s remarriage and remake himself after messing up his career as a psychologist. And their kids are not exactly all right either. But, in classic Lamb fashion, this is less a story about the drama of the present or any of the various hot-button issues Lamb invokes (gay marriage, Christian Fundamentalism, Obama’s presidency) than it is a lesson about how the traumas of the past play themselves out in the present, and how moral courage and religious faith are the key to overcoming that which haunts us. Here the old wounds are deep indeed—abandonment, addiction, decades-old racial conflict, and lots of child abuse—and Lamb does not hold back describing them in all their messiness. As he did in his Oprah-endorsed blockbusters She’s Come Undone (1992) and I Know This Much Is True (1998), Lamb avoids irony and tends to spoon-feed his readers rather than let them find their own meanings in the text. But few authors are as compassionate toward their characters or as stirring in their redemption narratives. Librarians should expect heavy demand. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The publisher’s publicity campaign will match in intensity the public library response to a new book by a library favorite. --Brendan Driscoll

Review

'Audacious...profound and moving...A soaring novel' MIAMI HERALD 'What makes it a romance though, and a truly compelling one, is their hope. Lamb shifts constantly from satire to horror to humour, but all his characters yearn for happiness... a highly readable book' GUARDIAN 'It's a sign of a good novel when the reader slowly savors the final chapters, both eager to discover the ending and dreading saying goodbye to the characters. We Are Water is a book worth diving into' USA TODAY 'A moving...story that seesaws between hope and despair' BOSTON GLOBE 'Wholly sympathetic, deeply moving' WASHINGTON POST 'Clear and sweetly flowing; highly recommended' LIBRARY JOURNAL '...this family saga is hard to put down' ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY 'Through alternating perspectives this addicting novel reveals how secrets can define a person and wreak havoc on her loved ones' REAL SIMPLE 'Lamb excels at delivering unexpected blows to his characters, ratcheting up the suspense to the final page' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

In 1963, a dam ruptures and floods a small town in Connecticut, killing several people. Forty-five years later, the daughter of the young mother killed in the tragedy is preparing to join her partner in an elaborate gay marriage ceremony. These two events, and all the things that happen in between, are the basis of this wonderful book.

Annie Oh, first a daughter, then an orphan, then a wife and mother, then an artist, and finally a lesbian lover, has lived a life so full it seems like she has lived more than one lifetime. Through it all, the secrets she keeps from her early childhood affect herself and everyone around her. In the end, she can't continue to hide her past and finally has to confront it.

It's not a terribly complicated story, but the way Wally Lamb tells it is perfect. Details emerge from different points of view until everything is revealed. He focuses on the inner dialogs of the people involved, and in the process we get to know all the characters very well. It's an ambitious way to tell a story, and I don't think very many writers could pull it off as well as he does it. He seems to have a special insight.

In the end, it's not just a book about tragedy and secrets. It's also about forgiveness, redemption, and enduring love. These are not perfect people, but they are very good people. I was glad I got to know them.

I cherished the experience of reading Lamb's "I Know This Much is True." And I enjoyed "She's Come Undone" as well, but not as much.

"We Are Water" reminds of "I Know This Much is True" in that it explores a family's secrets and sucks the reader in to the point where it's exquisitely uncomfortable to process what you're reading. The subject matter is not lightweight in either book, but still comes across as completely believable. The racism, child molestation, homophobia, etc. are difficult issues to read about from the different characters' point of view, but well worth it to bring you to the book's fabulous conclusion.

Some find his books verbose. I do not. There is no author on the planet, female or male, that can write female characters better than Wally Lamb. His character development, overall, is second to none. (Orion, Annie Oh's husband, is a particularly unforgettable character in this book.)

Annie Oh, a fiftysomething divorced mother of three grown children, is a master of secrets. But it's the weekend of her second marriage - to a female gallery owner and art dealer -- and her secrets are about to come tumbling out; both those from her childhood, of the wrongs that were done to her, and those from her adulthood, the wrongs that she did to others. This weekend will change the entire course of her family's life. Forever, and not necessarily for better.

I admire the craft behind We Are Water. Wally Lamb has long been a favorite writer of mine and he remains the most astute writer of people and character that I have ever read. In this book he slips effortlessly under the skin of Annie, the lesbian art dealer who is both abused and abuser; her husband Orion, the psychologist who is both professionally astute and personally blind; her older daughter Ariane, the perfectionist with the low self-esteem; her younger daughter Marissa, aspiring actress and practicing alcoholic; and Andrew, my personal most interesting character, the rebellious child turned Army nurse turned born-again fundamentalist. Plus a few other characters with unique relationships to the Ohs, who I won't reveal here, to preserve the surprise. Mr. Lamb practices fictional psychology like a surgeon, with a knife calibrated to the slightest edge; he is precise and brilliant and gets right to the heart of the matter. Also, he has an incredible ability to take on "unsympathetic" characters - molesters and child abusers - and make you glide from understanding them to being horrified by them, all in one smooth narrative flow. He has spent a great deal of time with women in prison, and I think it has done wonders for his empathy (which was evident even in his first novel); he just gets people, and he loves them, in all their brokenness.

So why three stars? Ultimately, I think the book was undone by a few significant flaws. First, the length. I love sagas; the longer a novel, the happier I am. But this just felt bloated and lacking in narrative power. About 200 pages in, I said to my husband that it felt like a huge jet that was still on the runway, straining to take off. Nothing had happened yet, and much of the time that Mr. Lamb spent on backstory never felt relevant. The first 50 pages or so dealt with a character who never returned in any meaningful way; there was a running sub plot of a long-dead African American artist which never coalesced (and had a very tenuous connection to the book in the end). Second, the focus (or lack thereof). About two-thirds through the book, it changed to a different narrative, and introduced a thriller element that was pretty effective - but had little to do with what I'd been reading to date. And finally, the ending - a 60 page coda that took place three years after the fateful weekend - felt rushed and overly descriptive, as if Mr. Lamb felt compelled to summarize all the points he was trying to make and to wrap up all the story he had started, but realized the book was already too long. This just felt like a novel that was being uncovered as the writer went along, and was never "cleaned up" afterwards. When reading it, I often admired it, but never loved it; when I was not reading it, I did not miss it; and when I was reading it, I often was impatient to finish and start on something else.

Ultimately, I remain a fan of Mr. Lamb's. But I would recommend his first two books instead of this one, and while fans of his may enjoy it, I don't think it will stand out over the course of his career.Read more ›

"We Are Water" was a book I was surprised to find myself liking. The characters in this book are far from perfect - most are very deeply flawed. There are far more shades of black and grey than light. And yet, the way Wally Lamb draws them out, fills in the details of their lives so gradually, the reader cannot help but become invested in their lives. Accept them for who they are. I say that I was surprised because I usually have a difficult time with books about characters that do awful things. UNLESS. The writer is skillful enough to force me to see their humanness. See that they are not simply the actions they take or the words they say - but are also a product of other characters actions and words. "We Are Water" does this beautifully.

Lamb creates a web of characters and events that tie into one another in ways the reader only gradually understands. The central character is Annie Oh, an up-and-coming artist during the present time of the book. Her children Andrew, Ariane and Marissa, and her husband/ex-husband Orion are the other most central figures. Their lives, and much of the most powerful imagery is tied to water. The ocean, a flood and its aftermath that had an impact on all of their lives. "Standing beside this dead, devoured seal, I rear back and hurl the bag, as far as I can, into the grey-green water. I watch it sink. Then I jimmy my wedding ring back and forth until it slips over the knuckle and off my finger. I fling it into the sea. Am I crying? Laughing? Both? Who am I, now that I've thrown my life into the ocean? Who will I be?"

Throughout the book, references to water are used - sometimes in the more traditional/spiritual sense - the restorative/healing power. But almost more often, the water images are violent and angry. As are many of the actions of the character. Annie, the main character, is revealed to be far more complex and far different than I expected. Especially in the way she treats her son.

"...there's Mama, armed with our big soup spoon and whacking Andrew on the back of his head and his neck. Once, twice, three times. My brother's just standing there, shoulders scrunched up, taking it as usual. "Don't you ever, EVER make your sister feel like a second-class citizen!" she yells."

Again and again, the actions of the characters, even those who seem auxiliary and from the past, play pivotal roles in what happens in the lives of other characters. Lamb does a masterful job of weaving the whole thing together.

"I look away from him then, look out at the rolling waves and think about umbilical cords, nooses, the skeins of string that tangle and connect us. If he does go to the police, does end up in prison, maybe he'll save himself from this choked up life he's been living. Be able to breathe again like he did the morning of his birth when the cord between his mother and him that had sustained him for nine months now was strangling him."

This book is about family, self, violence and acceptance. Mistakes and redemption. It's wonderfully written and I enjoyed the experience of reading it more than I thought I would. Even days later, the final image lingers.

"Together - father and son, the atheist and the believer, we enter the churning, mysterious sea."Read more ›

More About the Author

Wally Lamb's first two novels, She's Come Undone (Simon & Schuster/Pocket, 1992) and I Know This Much Is True (HarperCollins/ReganBooks, 1998), were # 1 New York Times bestsellers, New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and featured titles of Oprah's Book Club. I Know This Much Is True was a Book of the Month Club main selection and the June 1999 featured selection of the Bertelsman Book Club, the national book club of Germany. Between them, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True have been translated into eighteen languages. Lamb is also the editor of the nonfiction anthologies Couldn't Keep It to Myself: Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters (HarperCollins/ReganBooks, 2003) and I'll Fly Away (HarperCollins, 2007), collections of autobiographical essays which evolved from a writing workshop Lamb facilitates at Connecticut's York Correctional Institute, a maximum-security prison for women. He has served as a Connecticut Department of Corrections volunteer from 1999 to the present. Wally Lamb is a Connecticut native who holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in teaching from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Vermont College. Lamb was in the ninth year of his twenty-five-year career as a high school English teacher at his alma mater, the Norwich Free Academy, when he began to write fiction in 1981. He has also taught writing at the University of Connecticut, where he directed the English Department's creative writing program. Wally Lamb has said of his fiction, "Although my characters' lives don't much resemble my own, what we share is that we are imperfect people seeking to become better people. I write fiction so that I can move beyond the boundaries and limitations of my own experiences and better understand the lives of others. That's also why I teach. As challenging as it sometimes is to balance the two vocations, writing and teaching are, for me, intertwined." Honors for Wally Lamb include: the Connecticut Center for the Book's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Connecticut Bar Association's Distinguished Public Service Award, the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, the Connecticut Governor's Arts Award, The National Institute of Business/Apple Computers "Thanks to Teachers" Award. Lamb has received Distinguished Alumni awards from Vermont College and the University of Connecticut. He was the 1999 recipient of the New England Book Award for fiction. I Know This Much Is True won the Friends of the Library USA Readers' Choice Award for best novel of 1998, the result of a national poll, and the Kenneth Johnson Memorial Book Award, which honored the novel's contribution to the anti-stigmatization of mental illness. She's Come Undone was a 1992 "Top Ten" Book of the Year selection in People magazine and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Best First Novel of 1992. Wally Lamb's third novel, The Hour I First Believed, explores chaos theory by interfacing several generations of a fictional Connecticut family with such nonfictional American events as the Civil War, the Columbine High School shootings of 1999, the Iraq War, and Hurricane Katrina. The book will be published by HarperCollins in November of 2008.

Forums

Ha...don't blame it on Oprah, JT. Oprah chose intelligent books--she really did. "She's Come Undone" and "I Know This Much is True" were extraordinary books....not to mention W.L.'s magnificent compilations of the stories of the female creative writing students he taught in... Read More